New frontiers
Posted: 18 June 2007
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The world’s largest oil company has called for more cooperation between academe and industry to push the frontiers of technology.
 Saudi Aramco senior vice president for industrial relations Khalid Al-Falih said the company was launching a research and development vision with ambitious goals, including gigacell reservoir simulators, autonomous wells that “think” and drill themselves and reservoir measurements generated by nanorobots.
Speaking at Waseda University’s Global Information and Telecommunication Institute Symposium, Al-Falih said in the downstream arena, the company is studying the de-sulphurisation of “whole” crude oil and refined products using biotechnology, and advanced fuel formulations, including onboard reforming of gasoline into hydrogen and carbon-emissions mitigation.
“Together, those technologies will help us find and recover more oil, enhance fuel efficiency, and significantly improve environmental performance both locally and globally,” Al-Falih said. |
